Traffic officers busy with training

By TREVOR WAHUNE Traffic police have not been able to do their jobs on the road because they are undergoing training to prepare for next year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, National Capital District traffic officer in-charge Philip Koliadi says. One of the major disruptions to traffic flow in the capital city has been dysfunctional traffic lights caused by power outages. Koliadi told The National that traffic police were engaged in training so they were unable to be present to prevent chaos at traffic light junctions. He said the task of controlling traffic at those junctions was the responsibility of NCD officer in-charge, motorcycles Senior Constable Benedict Ondem but Ondem was also engaged in training motorcyclists. “It is our motorcyclists’ duty to ride around the city and monitor traffic lights to check for any disruptions then report back to the traffic office so that traffic officers could be deployed to control traffic,” he said. “The task is not restricted to the OIC motorcycles only, but is also a task for our general squad.” Koliadi said power disruptions around Port Moresby were caused by blackouts because most of the traffic lights were directly connected to the main source of electricity supplied by PNG Power. “There are some traffic lights that also have connections to solar panels. That is why when there is a power outage, those solar panels chip in to power the traffic lights. “When this happens, there are some mechanical disorders caused to the traffic lights. The outcome of this is shown when the traffic lights are on, but they only blink.”